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ABP Southampton Marathon Postponed

17 March 2020

We at ABP Southampton Marathon are honoured and so proud at the response from our loyal participants – we really appreciate your patience and support that you have all provided during this difficult time.

Following on from the Government’s announcement, we have taken the decision to postpone the ABP Southampton Marathon, Half & 10K to Sunday 21st June 2020, in the interest of public safety and to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

As the situation has developed over the previous weeks, we have been closely following Government advice to ensure our decisions were made with the best information possible. The Government briefing on 16th March stated that they will no longer support mass events taking place for the time being. We have also taken advice on board from Southampton City Council, our partners, medical professionals and key stakeholder groups. Our interpretation of this announcement is that it would not be advisable for the event to proceed on the 26th of April. We are disappointed that this is the case, however understand of course that the health and safety of everyone (our fantastic runners, events team, spectators, residents and brilliant volunteers) is paramount, so hope that this message is received with understanding and consideration.

We have been working on a postponement date and we intend to proceed on Sunday 21st of June. This is a fluid situation and we will need to keep a close eye on the Public Health England and Government updates. We do have further contingency plans and postponement dates that we are working on should a further date be required.

ABP Southampton’s Regional Director Alastair Welch said: “For the safety and good health of all participants and observers we’re very supportive of the decision to postpone the ABP Southampton Marathon events to later in the year.”

When will we hear more?

We know that you all need as much certainty as possible in these uncertain times and will keep you updated with our plans – communication is key, and we appreciate you all for being so patient whilst we are working through these decisions. We will definitely be providing a further update on 22nd May as this is a month before the new event date and we expect to have further Government advice and guidance at this point.

What options are there?

We have identified four options open to all of our runners to continue their ABP Southampton Marathon event experience:

Option 1: I want to run a Solo Virtual Event

You can run a Solo Virtual Event in your chosen distance during the month of April. You will receive your t-shirt and medal in the post following evidence of your virtual race. We will also provide you with £20 credit to use on ANY of our future ReesLeisure events including Southampton Sporterium, Winchester Half Marathon and ABP Southampton Marathon in 2020/2021 or 2022. VIRTUAL RUN DETAILS

We would request that you don’t run in large groups to help with social distancing. T-shirts and medals will be posted out at the end of April once the virtual event has closed.

Option 2: I want to run on 21st June 2020

If you wish to take part on the 21st June, please DON’T do anything. You will be automatically transferred across to this new date and can continue looking forward to a really exciting ABP Southampton Marathon event!

Option 3: I would like to transfer to Winchester Half Marathon 2020

If you wish to transfer to the Winchester Half Marathon instead, please email our team ([email protected]) so we can action this for you including any price differences for different distances. This event date (20th September) is now a great warm up event for the London Marathon’s new date too.

Option 4: I would like to defer my entry to 2021 (25th of April) or 2022 (Date TBC).

If you wish to defer for free to the ABP Southampton Marathon 2021 or 2022 event instead, please email our team ([email protected]) so we can action this for you.

We ask that you select the option that best suits you and if you choose Option 1, 3 or 4 (anything except run on the new postponed date), please email us by 31st May so action this for you and plan for our updated events accordingly.

Thank you all so much for your patience in this tough time, we hope you all stay safe, healthy and look forward to seeing you all on the start line in the hopefully not too distant future.